RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces injured five Palestinian protesters with rubber-coated steel bullets and caused dozens more to suffer from excessive tear gas inhalation as they dispersed protests across the West Bank on Friday.

The weekly protests against the Israeli occupation and separation wall were violently dispersed by Israeli forces in Bilin, al-Masara, Kafr Qaddam, and Tuqu.

Bilin

In the village of Bilin in the central West Bank, five protesters were injured and dozens suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation as Israeli soldiers dispersed a protest against the separation wall and renewed Israeli settlement construction on Palestinian land.

Protesters also marched in solidarity with the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, which has been besieged by the Syrian regime since July of last year.

Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas, stun grenades, and exploding bullets at protesters as they neared lands close to the wall that were previously confiscated from villagers by Israeli forces.

Coordinator for the popular resistance committee Abdullah Abu Rahma, 43, was injured by a tear gas canister that struck him in the back while Rashid Khatib, 20, Eid al-Khatib, 20, photographer Mohammad Yassin, 21, and Ashraf Abu Rahma, 35, were struck by rubber-coated steel bullets in the legs and feet.

Since 2005, Bilin villagers have protested on a weekly basis against the Israeli separation wall that runs through their village on land confiscated from local farmers.

Previous protests by Bilin activists have forced the Israeli authorities to re-route the wall, but large chunks of the village lands remain inaccessible to residents because of the route.

Al-Masara

Israeli forces on Friday dispersed the weekly demonstration in al-Masara village south of Bethlehem.

The demonstration started in the center of the village in solidarity with Yarmouk camp and to mark the 23rd anniversary of the assassination of three PLO members in Tunisia in 1991.

The coordinator for the popular committee in Bethlehem Hassan Brejia condemned the ongoing siege of Yarmouk and called for international intervention to end it.

Since 2006, the residents of al-Masara have protested on a weekly basis, demanding Israeli authorities return village lands confiscated in order to build the separation wall as it crosses through their town.

Kafr Qaddum

A number of protesters suffered from bruises, burns, and excessive tear gas inhalation in clashes with Israeli forces in Kafr Qaddum in the northern West Bank near Qalqiliya.

Israeli forces fired tear gas canisters and stun grenades at protesters as they arrived at the eastern entrance of the village, which is kept closed by Israeli forces.

Protests are held every Friday in Kafr Qaddum against Israel's closure of a main road linking the village to its nearest city, Nablus. The road has been closed since 2000.

Tuqu

Dozens of protesters suffered from excessive tear gas inhalation in clashes with Israeli forces in Tuqu, east of Bethlehem.

Locals said that Israeli forces fired tear gas and stun grenades during the clashes which broke out in the Madares area of the village.

In November, settlers erected an illegal outpost near the village, and have since then chopped down large numbers of olive trees and encroached upon nearby lands belonging to the village.

Israel began building the separation wall in 2002, and the route has been the target of regular demonstrations by border towns whose land is cut off by its path.

Israel has regularly confiscated large plots of Palestinian land in order to build the wall. When the 435-mile barrier is complete, 85 percent of it will have been built inside the occupied West Bank.

In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled that the separation wall was illegal and "tantamount to annexation."

More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in contravention of international law.

The internationally recognized Palestinian territories of which the West Bank and East Jerusalem form a part have been occupied by the Israeli military since 1967.

1 ) Tibi / Tubas

17/01/2014 20:49

500 throw STONES at protests across West Bank, and only 5 are SHOTshows great restraint is used by Israeli forces disperse protests !!

2 ) Hetty Verlinde / the Netherlands

17/01/2014 23:17

@1: That's what you get when you occupy their land. But where did you read that 500 threw stones? Or you assumed that? Anyway, they have no army, no F-16's, no tanks, no white phosphorus, no rubber-coated steel bullets, no tear gas, no stun grenades, and no exploding bullets etc etc.. If there is any people with extreme restraint it's the Palestinian people.

3 ) Kora / Belgium

17/01/2014 23:34

@1) Tibi - Yes, just suffocate them with tear gas instead huh! Wouldn't it be even better to just give the people back their land, so that they wouldn't have to demonstrate & throw stones & the IDF wouldn't have to show such restraint? Oh I forgot, you believe it's yours because Zionism says so.

4 ) Colin Wright / USA

18/01/2014 03:46

It's all getting to be a bit of a party -- Zionist style. A regular hootenanny.

5 ) Colin Wright / USA

18/01/2014 03:48

To Tibi #1: '500 throw STONES at protests across West Bank, and only 5 are SHOT
shows great restraint is used by Israeli forces disperse protests !!'
Yup. That famous Israeli 'restraint.' There is one thing to be said for you -- you make a lot of other people look pretty good.

6 ) eligh / USA

18/01/2014 06:57

Restraint? That's like saying someone committing rape shows restraints by only punching the victim 5 times in the face for resisting. You all are nuts!!!

7 ) @ Hetty-2, Kora-4, etc. / Truth

18/01/2014 21:19

2- Some of it will become occupy "their land", only when the dispute is settled by negotiations, and until then both are "occupiers".
3- Not one Arab was "suffocated with tear gas". Their claims of "excessive tear gas inhalation" are exaggerated, and "rubber-coated bullets" cause only minor injuries.
5- Arab kill with stones about as often as Israelis kill with rubber bullets.
6- There is No "raping or punching", just restrained & lawful dispersion of lawless and often deadly Arab Riots !!

8 ) Rachamim Dwek / Israel

19/01/2014 14:44

When Arabs first INVADED and CONQUERED in 638 CE/AD, Jews had collectively had 1,322 years of sovereign rule. Who is the REAL OCCUPIER? Israel? A Jewish State, a state composed of the land's indigenous people? Or Palestinians? Geberic Arabs who have never had a nation on the land at any time, and who exist here merely as descendants of INVADERS and CONQUERORS?
The riots discussed here are entirely organised by the US-based Anarchist Collective ISM, funded by the PA. They are scams.

9 ) Outlier / USA

20/01/2014 05:27

Palestinians in search of some "signature moment" in their struggle. Serious negotiations would be smarter, but that may be a bridge too far.

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